From Ruins to Roofs: The World of Mosses

Wall Mosses at Monk Bretton Priory

For me, before hoverflies there were bryophytes, as it was in evolutionary history. Bryophytes are a group of plants including mosses, liverworts and hornwort which have been on planet earth for half a billion years, evolving from aquatic algal ancestors. One of the earliest diverging lineages of extant land plants.

I got into bryophytes whilst studying at university, a project on a field course and I have been fascinated with them ever since. The surprise and wonder that first captivated me was that these tiny plants, of which there are 1000 plus in the UK and over 24,000 in the world, show so much diversity that is not obvious with a glance. These tiny flowerless plants helped shaped the existence of life on earth and could do so in the future with the colonisation of Mars, more about this later. They are as fascinating and wondrous as any other living organism if one takes the time to look. 

This article is about wall mosses; any wall will do it doesn’t have to be a wall on an English Heritage site such as a priory, but I couldn’t bring a group of Barnsley Naturalists to a wall outside my house or someone else’s garden, so this became a wonderful setting for a field meet. 

HoverflySpotter Sightings W/C 28th Feb 26

Birds, Vampires and ‘Catkins – Servicing the Bees’

It’s been a while since I wrote a sightings log – meteorological winter has ended - not that we had much snow in my part of the world just wet horrible rain failing day after day and grey overcast skies. The Winter Olympics has been on which I loved watching, I got engrossed in the snowboarding events and I reckon I could now commentate on curling having seen that much of it. But it has now finished, there were some terrific competitions and several GB medals to show which was nice. I did enjoy the whole occasion, first time in 20 years it's been in my time zone, which allowed me to watch more than I normally would. It even inspired me to produce a fun article about hoverflies at the Olympics, which seemed to have been well received and enjoyable to create. If you haven’t seen that post, please do click on the link – Hoverflies at the Olympics 🥌.

The last few days there has been some actual sun, and the temperatures have started to hit mid-teens, so I was hopeful of catching a hibernating hoverfly awakening from its sleep. I have been out and enjoying the spring flowers as they emerge. First there were Snowdrops then Dog’s Mercury followed by Crocuses, Helleborine, Daffodils, and Lesser Celandine and who does not love a Dandelion. I call them ‘Dandy – lee – on’ making them sound a little more exotic, not that they need that, but they are a much under-appreciated flower often considered a weed, yet the bees love them and so too do the early emerging hoverflies. But unfortunately, the only emerging insects I have spotted are the 7-spotted ladybirds, 2 Brimstone and a Peacock butterfly. I am sure by the end of the week I will have found one, so watch this space.

A Festival of Amateur Natural History

S.Yorkshire Natural History Day 

Thought of the week is slightly different this week because on Saturday 21st February it was the 15th South Yorkshire Natural History Day at Treeton Miners Welfare near Sheffield. This is an annual event open to all members of the Sorby society and anyone else who wishes to come along, an event where amateur naturalists convene from across the county and beyond to share and listen to talks about Natural History.

I took a little display promoting my blogger site and had a fabulous day talking to other naturalists who have a similar passion for hoverflies, who knew there were so many. Of course, the current president is a hoverfly enthusiast himself, Derek Whiteley.

Anyway, here are some thoughts and sound bites I took from this conference. Apologies in advance if I have mis-quoted any of the speakers, these are just my takeaway thoughts, ideas, questions, and important points. Some of these relate to thoughts about hoverflies and some don’t.

Hoverfly Genera Volume 2

Acrostic hoverfly postcards

Each slide explores a different genus: The genus name is split such that each letter forms a sentence, highlighting unique features of the incredible syrphids within each group, posted alongside artwork and habitat preferences.

All the photographs and artwork featured are my own, making this a truly personal project.

Just added Meliscaeva 22nd February, 

For more Acrostic postcards click on the links below:

Scaeva,Syrphus,Volucella,Helophilus and Episyrphus.

Thank you for your support—every visit helps in keeping this project thriving. 

Drop by often and marvel the world of hoverflies genera!

Meliscaeva

Hoverfly heads under the lens:

What makes them different?

The head of a hoverfly is not only vital, but a fascinating structure designed for several functions some will be obvious and other less so. The intention of this blog is to do an overview of the components of the head that directly or indirectly contribute to flight, feeding, and sensory perception. A separate more in-depth article is probably required to delve into each component, watch out for those posts at some later date. 

Let’s compare a hoverfly head with a bee’s head, which although it may look similar has several interesting differences, see below. I hope to explore those differences, whilst giving ecological and evolutionary reasons for such adaptations and pointing out taxonomical purposes along the way. 

Outwardly there are six external features worthy of examination and discussion. Most of these features are connected to the brain and nervous system which not only processes the visual and olfactory information, but motor control for precision flight to assist in finding flowers and mates, and yet provides split-second decision-making needed to hover and evade predators. 

So, let’s ‘head-in’ and see what we can find…. Sorry I couldn’t resist the pun.